Party positions on drug overdoses show cross-party progress possible

Willingness from across the political spectrum to explore critical overdose prevention measures shows that cross-party progress can be made no matter the result of the election, the NZ Drug Foundation Te Puna Whakaiti Pāmamae Kai Whakapiri says. 

It comes as the Foundation marks International Overdose Awareness Day by releasing political party responses to its Overdose Prevention Plan (PDF, 251 KB)(see table below). 

Sarah Helm, the Foundation’s Executive Director, says that today the Foundation and many others in the sector and community would be remembering the New Zealanders whose lives have been lost to overdose. 

Between 2017 and 2021, fatal overdoses rose 51% to 171 people in 2021 – almost double the number of drownings and more than half the road toll that year. Despite this, overdose deaths have been afforded only a fraction of the attention and investment in prevention.  

“Every one of those 171 people represents a whānau and a community who are suffering. We ask that their lives are not lost in vain,” says Helm. “Those 171 people’s lives are worth just as much as those lost to drowning or road incidents.” 

Helm says as long as drugs are treated as a political football, preventable overdose deaths will continue to increase at an alarming rate.  

“The parties’ responses to the overdose prevention measures in our plan show that we can make progress. Enough common ground exists for politicians to get around the table, put aside the politics, and agree on ways that these tragic deaths can be prevented,” she says. 

Helm says that the Foundation’s evidence-backed overdose prevention plan (PDF, 251 KB) is full of measures that are ready to be implemented and save lives. These include new overdose prevention services and dedicated response teams, a new Overdose Prevention Taskforce, better data gathering, distribution of overdose reversal medicine, and law reform measures. 

“Our plan is informed by what is working around the world and it shows that there is so much that we can and should be doing to prevent these deaths.” 

The Foundation asked ACT, the Green Party, Te Pāti Māori, Labour and National to give their response to each measure in the plan. Their responses are below. ACT and Te Pāti Māori did not respond by the deadline.